Conversations
by Yuki Tsukihana
Summary: Conan finally confronts the woman he meets at crime scenes, and asks a simple question... Why? Now with prequel!
1. Part the Second

Disclaimer: Meitantei Conan is copyrighted to Gosho Aoyama and his genius. This story's representation of Death is copyrighted Neil Gaiman and _his_ genius.

* * *

--

"Poor girl. She was so young."

Edogawa Conan, a.k.a. Kudou Shin'ichi, tried to ignore the woman bending over and stroking the girl's pale face. The girl, Suzumiya Miho, was the unfortunate victim of a carefully planned murder by a jealous classmate, whose goal was to steal Miho's boyfriend. Needless to say, the latter part of the plan failed horribly when said murderer was slapped in the face by said boyfriend.

"She was a lucky girl, to be loved so much." A sigh. "At least they'll be together soon."

Conan spared a glance at the woman who was obviously much older than she looked. Her skin was a deathly shade, like that of Miho's, and she seemed to be dressed in the current Gothic Lolita fashion. And a glance was all that he gave her, since he had long figured out that none of the other people noticed this woman's presence. Talking to someone that wasn't there was a sign of insanity, after all, and he did so like to keep his reputation, crumbling as it was.

The woman kindly decided to elaborate. "He's going to commit suicide. Tomorrow night. After all his affairs are in order, of course. Such a tragedy, this kind of story, but at least they'll be happy."

The teenager-turned-child slowly walked off, seeking a quiet place. "Why do you follow me?" he asked suddenly, after deciding he was far enough away from prying eyes or ears. "You've never told me before. I first thought that it's because I find the bodies. Then I thought that you were the one to kill them, or at least bring about their deaths. Now…I don't know. Maybe it's one, or both, or neither. I just…I just want to know why? What have I done that warrants Death's attention?"

The woman, Death, she was commonly known as, crouched down in front of him and gently cupped his cheek; Conan was mildly surprised that her skin was warm and comforting. "Would you believe me if I said I liked you?"

A blank stare was her response.

A chuckle. "Thought not." She withdrew her hand. "You have an ability; one that you should be proud of. You can bring peace to many of the souls I take with me. You solve their murders…and they're happy for that. But I do not guide you here. You merely walk the pages in my Brother's book. Perhaps it's a small joke to him that I cross paths with you more than any mortal should. Perhaps it's something else. You interest me for that reason, and I do wish we'd first met under better circumstanced; you seem like such a nice boy."

"Conan-kun?" Ran's voice carried down the hallway; it seemed as if everyone was finally leaving the murder scene, which meant Mouri Kogoro had woken up.

Death stood up, still smiling down at him. "That is your answer, as best I can give. I don't follow you, rather, our jobs just happen to coincide with each other. But my Brother…" she shook her head playfully, "who knows what he's got in store for you."

"Who's your brother?"

"There you are! Come on, it's time to go." Ran apparently hadn't heard the boy say anything as she had walked up.

"Okay, Ran-nee-chan!" Conan said jovially, taking his best friend's hand and following her toward the car they had come in. He cast a look back at the woman he had seen far too many times.

Miho stood next to her, looking a bit nervous, as Death waved cheerfully at him, opening her mouth for one last answer.

"Destiny."

--

* * *

A/N: I heard someone say, in a fanfic I read, that they had seen a Detective Conan fanart where the Grim Reaper stood behind Conan. now, I've looked for this picture, but haven't been able to find it. that was a few weeks ago.

for some reason, I started thinking about that picture again, and thought about another that I'd like to draw: Neil Gaiman's Death being amiable with Kudou/Conan. why not? the theme's similar. and upon thinking about that picture, the muses viciously attacked me, so I dropped everything else to write this.

…I'm not happy. but I'm writing it anyways.

…perhaps I'll do a prequel. After writing this, I can only imagine Kudou's reaction to seeing this woman for the first time, and consequentially freaking out. especially after seeing her multiple times at murder scenes, and leaving with the victim, who somehow seems alive, though their dead body is still on the ground.

…yes. amusing image.

……….God, this story sucks, and it's too short to boot, but I hope you guys'll like it.

Namaste


	2. Part the First

Disclaimer: as stated in the first chapter, Meitantei Conan is copyright Gosho Aoyama, and Sandman is copyright Neil Gaiman.

* * *

- - -

The first time he saw her was on a plane flight to Los Angeles. She wasn't one of the suspects, as she was sitting quite a few rows away from them, and, despite her odd dress, acted quite normally. So of course, he forgot her the instant he stepped off the plane.

The second time he saw her was in the audience of a New York play. The one his mother's friend Sharon had invited them to. But, she was simply an audience member, and so paid no attention to her.

He saw her again quite a few times under similar circumstances, and, each time, paid no attention to her presence.

It wasn't until his fortieth murder case that he realized her presence…

- - -

It was a dark and stormy night, as it often or not was, the weather somehow sensing the dreary mood inside the mansion, and changing itself to something more appropriate. He had come with the police to investigate the murder of one Mr. Guren Hidehiko, caused by blunt trauma to the head. He had just finished questioning the suspects, and was mulling over the facts when someone spoke to him, surprising him.

"Miss Scarlet did it in the study with a candlestick," a young girl said, in English. He stared at her oddly, recognizing the line from that Clue game. The girl was odd, dressed in a striped t-shirt and faded and ripped black jeans, but wore black make-up and carried a black lace umbrella that was obviously made for decoration and not practical use. He filed away her description for later consideration. He then turned to the suspects, regarding them again. When he turned back to the girl to ask her just what she meant…she had vanished. And no amount of searching the crime scene would tell him where she went.

It was only after he had solved the crime (the weapon had indeed been a candelabra, and the culprit was the wife, angry with a proposed divorce) that he realized something horribly amusing: scarlet was a translation of guren.

- - -

A couple of cases after that one, he realized just what she was.

It was quite a beautiful night. The air was brisk, and it was sweater weather, but it wasn't overly cold. Some people more used to cooler temperatures were still going out wearing shortsleeves. He was beginning to get suspicious of the woman, since she always seemed to show up either before or at a murder. He had just wrapped up a locked-room murder, much to the joy of Megure-keibu and his officers, when he spotted the familiar outfit turn a corner. He quickly excused himself, since this seemed to be his chance to talk to her, and find out just what was going on.

As he turned the corner, however, he had to stop, almost running into the girl. She smiled at him, acting like she was waiting for him. He opened his mouth to ask her something, but promptly shut it when he recognized the man on the girl's arm.

After having looked at him for the past hour or so, it was kind of hard to not recognize the victim.

He made a couple of sounds, none of them coherent, as he just pointed at the, quite obviously alive, man, who looked a little put-off about being pointed at.

"I'll be seeing you later," the girl said, winking at him. She then patted the man's arm and led him off. He blinked, and they had vanished.

Now, being a detective required a certain amount of intelligence, and he was certainly not without smarts. Holmes had also said that "Once you eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth." People also don't just disappear into thin air with dead bodies, which were obviously alive.

…He needed to sit down.

- - -

A week later, at another case, he pulled her aside. "Do you kill them?" he asked.

She simply smiled at him. "You're a detective, aren't you? Don't you find the person who kills them?"

He looked a bit taken aback, then reconsidered his words. "I phrased that wrong. Are you…Do you…Um…I…"

"I lead the souls to the afterlife where they can rest, so you can say that, yes, I am Death."  
He had long since stopped attempting to form coherent sentences. He had paled slightly, however.

She patted his cheek. "Don't worry, you're not due for a while. It looks like you and I will be meeting many times in the future, so get used to seeing me here." And with that, she began skipping through the police to the body, pulling what could only be described as the soul from it, and leaving. And no one noticed a thing.

It was a relatively simple case, and Megure-keibu could handle this, so he decided to go home and think about what just happened.

- - -

_I am friends with Death_, he mused. She had recently taken to bugging him when she wasn't on the clock. It had startled him the first time she had done it, and had immediately checked his surroundings for possible suspects, earning a laugh from her. He had come to enjoy it, however; she was a great conversationalist, smart, funny, and kind. A couple years ago, before he knew her, he definitely would _not_ have used those words to describe death, or even the personification of death. He at least had expected a cloaked skeleton with a scythe and hourglass. But life was funny that way. Or Death was, if you got technical.

Walking along with Ran-nee-chan and Ossan, he spotted Death across the street, wiggling her fingers at him. _Oh, boy_, he thought, as she tapped her watch.

"Oh my god!" someone shouted from inside the diner the trio were passing. "He's dead!"

_Here we go again_.

And so, Kudou Shin'ichi, alias Edogawa Conan, went to work.

- - -

* * *

well…that was…different from what I had imagined. I imagined more freaking out. well, maybe he did freak out more, but that scene just didn't want to be written. it was all like "NO!" and slapped me. 

aaaaaaand now I wanna do a little series of these .. more conversations with Death, an' all that. like, Hattori's equally cursed, so he should meet her, right?

…right?

ah, well.

terms, for anyone who needs them:  
-keibu: a title given to a police inspector

nee-chan: lit. older sister (informal). usually used to address a young woman.

Ossan: lit. old man (really informal). a contraction of oji-san, which could also mean uncle. Conan/Kudou's name for Kogoro.

guren: I have seen this translated as scarlet, cinnabar, and crimson. and yes, that name was chosen SOLELY for the purpose of using a line from Clue.

…it's been a while since I read any of the Sandman series. is Death acting a bit OOC?

-


End file.
